Summary

Overview of Forest Monitoring and Measurement Systems[1]

Since 2012 Colombia has a Forest and Carbon Monitoring System (SMByC).

The SMByC is a set of tools, procedures and professionals specialized in generating information that allows stakeholder to know where, when and why changes are happening in the surface and in the carbon contents of the country's forests. To achieve this, the system performs the following activities:

Identification and periodic report of the surface of natural forest

Generation of methodologies for the annual quantification of deforestation at the national level

Quarterly generation of Early Warning for Deforestation (AT-D)

Characterization, modeling and simulation of causes and agents of deforestation and degradation

Monitoring carbon stored in forests (carbon stocks and GHG emissions)

The SMBYC complies with the provisions of the relevant decisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -CMNUCC and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -IPCC in its guide to good practices, operating under the principles of transparency, completeness, comparability, consistency and precision. Likewise, To pay attention to the global requirements regarding the reduction of climate change, the system allows the identification and establishment of national reference levels, a fundamental basis for defining international commitments in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. (REDD +).

At the national level, there is a complete and comparable historical series of greenhouse gas emissions that began in 1990, followed by 1994, 2000, 2004, 2010 and 2012.

The country has committed to reducing emissions in 2030 by 20% compared to projected following current trends. According to the projections of sectoral emissions, there is a national baseline for the period 2010-2030, with an average annual growth rate of 1.99%, assuming a stabilization in deforestation rates and an economic growth that is gradually reduced in the short term and that increases in efficiency by the strategy of green growth.

Within these scenarios, the emission reduction potential of the Agriculture, forestry and other land uses sector is 347 Mton CO2 eq. (approximately 57% of the goal to 2030).

At departmental level, there are no series of historical emissions. We have the emissions data for 2012, where Caquetá's emissions were 19.82 Mton CO2 eq. which corresponds to the third department with the highest emissions in the country, after Antioquia and Meta, of which the great majority are due to the transformation of forest to pasture.

The Vision Amazon program has a reference level of deforestation estimated for the entire region, based on the historical average deforestation rates of 2000-20012

Total Forest Carbon

538M MtC

% of Global Total

0.339%

Reference Levels and Targets

Deforestation Reference Rate

345km²/yr

2015 - 2020

Potential Annual CO₂ Avoided

0tCO₂eq

Rio Branco Declaration Deforestation Reduction Goal[a]

69km²/yr

2020

Deforestation Dynamics Monitoring

Deforestation Rates[2]

Notes

a.

These are the goals set forth in the Rio Branco Declaration provided that adequate, sufficient, and long-term performance-based funding is available